×

INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

How to use smartphone GPS with INDI-GPSD

  • Posts: 2876
  • Thank you received: 809
I was talking with Jasem about this a bunch both today and yesterday. He preferred to not use GPSD at all but to just go ahead and read the NMEA data directly. He did some great work on it today and I just ran it on my Mac computer. It works great so far. We will do some final testing and it should be in the Linux PPA probably by tomorrow or the next day and I will go ahead and build a Mac DMG which should be available about the same time with this awesome new feature.

Here are some carefully edited screenshots of it running on my computer just a few minutes ago with the NMEA GPS program on my iPhone.

The following user(s) said Thank You: T-Studio
6 years 5 months ago #20424
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 447
  • Thank you received: 30
Great!
I am surprised by the change.
For example, does WiFi of RaspberryPi 3 work in AP mode too?
6 years 5 months ago #20425

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 2876
  • Thank you received: 809
I think it should, all you would need is to have the phone on the same network as the pi, linux, or Mac computer that is running the INDI GPS NMEA driver. You just need to enter the IP address for the phone and the port the NMEA information is broadcasting on.
6 years 5 months ago #20426

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 1309
  • Thank you received: 226
I'm pretty impressed by how quickly this has progressed.
T-Studio, yes the Pi 3 WiFi can work in adhock mode. I've been using it this way for some time and for gps over network just fine with gpsd.
Last edit: 6 years 5 months ago by Andrew.
6 years 5 months ago #20427

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 447
  • Thank you received: 30
Do it need a different router?
For example, if you use RaspberryPi outdoors, use Wifi of RaspberryPi 3 as AP and apply it to all servers.
I am using VNC by connecting my smartphone to RaspberryPi.
Can I use it in such an environment?
Last edit: 6 years 5 months ago by T-Studio.
6 years 5 months ago #20428

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 447
  • Thank you received: 30
Ihoujin

I'm sorry I posted back and forth.

It is amazing!
6 years 5 months ago #20429

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 2876
  • Thank you received: 809
So I was playing around a little more with this driver and I discovered one issue. It's not Jasem's mistake either. The program NMEA GPS is giving the wrong UTC time. It reports the current time as the UTC which is incorrect. So I tried a couple of other iPhone apps. This one is not too expensive, doesn't have the annoying ads, actually gives the correct UTC, and it even has the IP address, port, and an on/off switch all on the same screen. I don't know if it is the best iPhone app for this purpose, and unfortunately it does cost money, but I think it is better than NMEA GPS. See if this works for you guys (when the driver makes it to the PPA):

itunes.apple.com/us/app/gps-2-ip/id408625926?mt=8
6 years 5 months ago #20430

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 447
  • Thank you received: 30
itunes.apple.com/us/app/gps-2-ip/id408625926?mt=8
itunes.apple.com/jp/app/nmea-gps/id590868529?mt=8

Both are applications you tried before.
(It did not connect in AP mode ..)
It would be great if I could connect with a new driver!
6 years 5 months ago #20431

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

The driver is in beta. Please test. I added GPS NEMA driver documentation
The following user(s) said Thank You: T-Studio
6 years 5 months ago #20433

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 83
  • Thank you received: 6
I read the documentation you provided and I have 2 questions:

(1) Will kstar time be also set from the GPS device or will it use the OS system time ?

In the doc you say: "After a GPS fix is captured, the driver shall update the Location & Time properties [...]. For KStars/Ekos, no additional action is necessary."

but in Kstar setting there are 2 check boxes and I am wondering which one would needs to be set or are they just ignored when using this new module ?



(2) will this new module work if the RPI is configured as a WIFI access point ? (I read in the previous comments conflicting answers)

Thanks! this is a super cool feature and I appreciate the time spent on this by all of you. Another win for the project :)
"Some people are so poor, all they have is money"
SW Black Diamond 80ED | SW150MAK | Newton SW 200/1000 | Orion 50mm Guider with Helical Focuser |Sirius EQ-G Rowan Belt Mode
Canon 1000D moded | ZWO ASI185MC | Baader Mark III Zoom
INDI | Stellarmate on RPI3B+ | Stellarium | Pixinsight
Last edit: 6 years 5 months ago by Yannic Delisle.
6 years 5 months ago #20435
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 2876
  • Thank you received: 809
So if you are connected to INDI and you use any GPS driver, it will change both the time and the geographic coordinates in KStars. This is also true if you use the advanced KStars setting to update time and location from the "device" instead of "computer when you connect your mount.

I know this because just the other day, we accidentally had that setting backwards when we connected a mount and the KStars sky shifted dramatically because the location in the device was way off. I also know this is true of the GPS indi driver because when I had a NMEA server incorrectly report the time, the KStars time changed by 4 hours and the sky rotated. (On that note, watch out for the NMEA GPS app on the iPhone, they report the UTC time incorrectly)

It should be noted however that the change is temporary, if you look at the Geographic setting in the menu in KStars, it does not change your location for good. What the GPS driver does, is update your location in KStars while INDI is connected so that you have more accurate information for your observing session.
6 years 5 months ago #20436

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 2876
  • Thank you received: 809
I think I was posting at the same time as you. For the advanced setting, I believe that Computer vs. device option is really for getting the location and time from the mount, not for the gps driver. I have that setting set to "computer" and I am using the NMEA driver and it still works.
6 years 5 months ago #20437

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.729 seconds